Irish hooked on the mobile phone

IT MAY come as a surprise to learn that the Irish are now the most enthusiastic buyers of mobile phones in Europe.

One in every 25 Irish people now owns a mobile phone - a testament to the success of Eircell's marketing campaigns.

Unfortunately, Eircell's ability to entice people on to its network has not been matched by an ability to provide its new customers with an entirely satisfactory service. In a survey of mobile phone customers earlier this year, the company found that most of the 13,000 respondents emphasised the need for improved coverage and call quality.

There is hardly a mobile phone user in Ireland who has not felt the exasperation which follows having a call cut off. It is an annoyance which does not discriminate between the older "analogue" mobile phone system and the newer digital GSM service. Nor does it favour urban dwellers above their rural cousins.

Faced with these grievances Eircell's new chief executive Mr Stephen Brewer, maintains, that the company has been "a victim of its own success". When he joined Telecom Eireann's mobile phone subsidiary last October there were about 100,000 subscribers. Mr Brewer predicts that this figure will reach 150,000 before the end of this month.

"There are few businesses whose processes and people can withstand 50 per cent growth in six months," he says. The principal problem is that Eircell has not developed its network to meet the demands of an onslaught of new customers. The problem has been aggravated by successive marketing campaigns which have heightened customer expectations.

According to Mr Brewer: "The levels of investment in capacity in the past to meet the increased demand have been inadequate. But every network in Europe has been caught in the same way. There has been a quantum leap in demand which few companies can satisfy."

ALTHOUGH four out of five customers are connected to the analogue network, an increasing number of new subscribers are opting for the digital, or GSM, system. GSM customers pay a slight premium for the service but have the advantage of being able to use their phones in the growing number of countries operating a GSM network.

Unlike calls made on the analogue system which can be monitored by eavesdroppers with the right equipment - calls made on GSM phones are encoded and therefore more secure.

For Irish people deciding whether to buy an analogue or GSM phone, however, it is the strengths and weaknesses of the respective networks which is of most importance.

Although Eircell has extended the capacity of the analogue network by 40 per cent during the past 12 months, it is still congested, particularly in urban areas. This means that calls made from places which are normally adequately covered may be disrupted during peak usage times.

Most agents therefore advise people in the Dublin area to connect to the GSM network. People who mainly use their phone outside of Dublin, however, are better served by analogue handsets, as the GSM network at present covers a much smaller land area outside Dublin.

For mobile phone companies a GSM network can handle twice as many calls as an equivalent analogue network. Analogue systems are therefore becoming obsolete throughout the world. Mr Brewer accepts that Eircell will probably scrap its analogue network within the next 10 years.

John, a Dublin based TV producer, counts himself among Eircell's dissatisfied customers. He began using his analogue phone four months ago and in that time has become defendent on the increased flexibility it offers.

That dependency may explain why John is unequivocal in his criticism of the service. "I find the price prohibitive," he said. "They don't have a great customer service and there are ridiculous problems with the service.

"If I didn't have a company mobile phone, and Eircell were the only provider, I would not have a mobile."

BEFORE the end of, the year, that competition will arrive in the shape of Esat Digifone. When it comes on the market, Esat expects its network to cover 80 per cent of the population and to increase this to cover 95 per cent of Irish homes within nine months.

According to Esat Digifone's sales and distribution manager, Mr Seamus Lynch, the company will compete with Eircell on "quality of service, customer care and the cost efficient provision of service". Esat will only compete with Eircell for GSM customers.

Mr Brewer is confident, however, that Eircell's present problems will be sorted out well in advance of the Esat launch.

His confidence may be founded on his experience as the commercial director of France Telecom's mobile subsidiary - a role which was dominated by the need to compete against France's second licence operator.

Mr Brewer has the resources to turn Eircell's operations around. Telecom has committed £100 million to developing the Eircell network. This money will be used to double the number of base stations from 350 to about 720 - it uses to relay mobile signals.

Unfortunately, the integration of those base stations will cause considerable disruption to the network, worsening an already problematic service.

Sinead is a student from Leixlip, Co Kildare, who received her mobile as a present from her father three years ago. Sinead uses her phone mostly for security. "If my car breaks down at night all I have to do is lock the doors and call home," she said.

Sinead is happy with the quality of the service but feels that Eircell's support service could be more helpful. Whereas most European mobile phone companies pride themselves on their customer support service, Eircell's support service clearly has difficulties coping with demand.

Merely reaching the company's accounts section can require days of endless calling and many of those who attempt to use Eircell's helpline, give up before having their query answered. This situation was not helped by industrial action when some employees staged a work to rule over the company's decision to recruit FAS trainees.

Faced with such dissatisfaction, Mr Brewer has decided to restructure Eircell's customer support services within the next three months.

The reorganisation is not limited to the customer services division. Mr Brewer is restructuring the entire Eircell organisation in advance of the company's establishment as an independent Telecom subsidiary by April.

"I have to form a business from a somewhat fragmentary group of departments in Telecom Eireann," he says.

Within the next 10 years as many as one in four Irish people may have a mobile phone. If Eircell does not solve its considerable problems before Esat's arrival on the market later this year, a large portion of that potential market may slip through its fingers.